Tottenville Reviews

Living in Tottenville, Staten Island all my life. Great place to live. Extremely family oriented and it has a small town feel even though its in the most surburban residential borough of New York City.

I grew up right outside of Tottenville. Then it was just a small town where you knew everyone's name and everyone was friendly. There was one grocery store in town and not much else to do. Now Tottenville is booming. There are restaurants, pharmacies, grocery stores, jewelry stores, clothing stores, you name it, Tottenville's got it.

Living in New York, this skews my perception of crime as living in a big city there is more of it than other areas of the country but as far as comparing to the other boroughs, safety is pretty decent here. The biggest issue you face on Staten Island is drug (use and very high incidence of overdose) and assault.

Living on Staten Island has gotten less appealing as the years go on. The biggest turn off for me is the cost of living. You are paying city prices for most things but not getting the benefits of living in a city (i.e. Walkability, easy public transportation, interesting amenities, etc.) You have to pay, no matter what, to leave the island to get anywhere whether it be the other boroughs or New Jersey. Being a democrat, it is also very hard as this is the only republican borough in NYC and they are very vocal about their stances on certain things. The people are not the best either; it is very rare that you have a positive interaction here.

In my neighborhood in Staten Island, crime is at a minimum. However, there are areas of Staten Island that are more prone to crime. For the most part, the most popular crimes are typically drug related. Staten Island has a sort of drug epidemic happening.

I do enjoy living in Staten Island, however I wouldn't choose to live here again if I could. I enjoy more of an urban neighborhood, rather than a suburban one like Staten Island. I'd say it is an above average place to live, but it's nickname of "the forgotten borough" speaks volumes.

There is quite a large variety of stores in this area. Target, Applebee's, Christmas Tree Shop, Modell's Sporting Goods, Dunkin Donuts, Z Two Restaurant, and Sally Beauty Supply, are all located in adjacent shopping centers in Charleston. The workers are relatively nice and the service is good.